People Powered, the global hub for participatory democracy, has reviewed 70 studies and synthesising the research into 19 key findings to help understanding, advocacy and implementation of citizens’ assemblies. As a relatively recent innovation in participatory democracy, the full breadth of impacts of citizens’ assemblies are still emerging. Key findings include:
At the individual level, research shows that citizens’ assemblies reliably increase the knowledge, skills, and political efficacy of those who participate directly in the process and can even contribute to depolarization by helping citizens with more extreme political views find common ground.
At the community level, there is consistent evidence of positive spillover effects to those who simply learn about the assembly process and recommendations, such as increasing trust in government and their fellow citizens, and increased willingness of non-participants to engage in politics and consider alternate political views.
At the level of government, citizens’ assemblies can even reshape traditional government processes and dynamics, broadening legislators’ perspectives, bypassing institutional deadlocks, and giving a public mandate for policy action on long-term challenges like climate change.
As People Powered note, much of the academic literature on assemblies is inaccessible, either locked behind paywalls or presented in dense academic language. Plus, most practitioners in government and civil society simply do not have the time to sift through dozens of studies to find information relevant to their needs.
People Powered has also produced an interactive Air Table so anyone can review and reanalyse the data on which the report is based.
